The number of foreign-born residents in Spain increased from 3% in the late 1990s to 14% in 2018. In 2015, the largest group was from Morocco (13% of all immigrants), followed by Romania (11%), Ecuador (7%), Colombia (6%), the UK (5%), Argentina (4%), France (3%) and Peru (3%). Graph 1 shows, based on data from INE, the relative size of the four groups analysed in this study from the total immigrant population in Spain.

These four groups vary in their characteristics (residential immigration for many migrants from Western European countries, as opposed to labour immigration for the rest) and their unequal access to political rights at the local level. Migrants from the EU and some non-EU (mostly Latin American) countries have the right to vote in municipal elections in Spain, although very few exercise it. For the 2011 elections, 479,816 foreigners registered in the Electoral Census to vote in Spain: 289,629 of them were from EU-14 (mostly British, Italians and French), 105,825 were Romanians, and 51,133 were Latin Americans (25,668 Ecuadorians and 12,632 Colombians). In 2015 (when 464,074 foreigners registered to vote), this figure was even lower, possibly due to the decrease in the number of Latin Americans who registered (21,609). However, only EU foreigners have the right to stand as candidates in municipal elections.

All other nationalities must necessarily acquire the Spanish citizenship in order to be able to stand as candidates, although nationals of former Spanish colonies enjoy a fast-track access to the Spanish nationality (after two years of prior residence) when compared to other groups (ten years of residence). In fact, 87% of those who acquired the Spanish nationality between 2003 and 2015 were of Latin American origin, compared with 11.5% of Moroccan origin (Pérez-Nievas et al., 2014).

The data on political representation presented in this article come from a questionnaire distributed to local party branches, in which information was requested about the origin of the candidates standing in the 2011 and 2015 elections. The definition of migrant-origin candidates included in the questionnaire referred to: a) those born abroad of non-Spanish parents (first-generation immigrants) and b) those born in Spain of at least one non-Spanish parent (children of immigrants). The questionnaire was sent to all parties with representation at national or regional level, in municipalities with over 1,000 inhabitants where Moroccans, Romanians, Latin Americans and EU-14 migrants accounted for more than 10% of the population. The response rate was 28%.

The results of this survey confirm the pattern of political under-representation of migrants that was already identified in earlier research (Pérez-Nievas et al., 2014; Vintila and Morales, 2018). In the large majority of cities analysed (98%), the percentage of immigrant-origin candidates and councillors is well below the demographic weight of these groups. In 40% of the cities, the electoral lists included only Spanish candidates. The percentage of candidates and councillors with an immigrant background is much lower than the demographic weight of the migrant population in these cities.

By groups, whereas EU-14 migrants accounted for 2.9% of all candidates in 2015, Latin Americans summed up 2%, more than Romanians and Moroccans. Although the percentage of Romanian candidates decreased from 2011 to 2015, this group, just like Moroccans, only reached elected positions in 2015. In that year, immigrant candidates were mainly from the UK, Argentina, France, Romania, Germany and Colombia (in this order).

The gender distribution of candidates and councillors is particularly interesting. As shown in graph 3, more than a half of all residents born in Spain and Latin America are women (56%), whereas female residents represent less than 50% in the other three groups, especially for the Moroccan community (59% of Moroccan migrants are male).

With regard to gender, one could expect the representation gap to be even larger among migrant women due to the “double barrier” they face (from their gender and migration background). However, female migrants may also be more likely to be fielded as candidates than male migrants, especially if parties select them strategically to cover two subgroups with a single position on the list (Mügge, 2016). The data show that, in fact, female candidates from EU-14 countries and, to a lesser extent, Romania and Latin America are over-represented on the lists compared to the relative size of their group (which is not the case for candidates of Spanish or Moroccan origins). However, this strategic selection may imply “unsafe” positions on the lists, since in terms of elected councillors, only Latin American women maintain a slight over-representation in relation to their demographic weight.

Some previous research (Fieldhouse and Cutts, 2008) indicates that a high demographic concentration of immigrant-origin minorities in electoral constituencies facilitates their visibility and encourages parties to include migrant candidates for electoral appeal.

The data shown in graph 4 seem to confirm this expectation: in municipalities where the migrant population is below 20%, there are, on average, only 2.1% migrant candidates. The figure increases to an average of 3.9% in cities where migrants account for 20% to 30% of the population; and reaches 7.3% in cities where over 30% of the population has a migrant background. However, this effect may be due to the concentration of migrants from EU-14 countries, as the effect does not hold for the other groups when we examine them separately.

The distribution of immigrant-origin candidates and councillors by parties also yields interesting results. In many European countries, left-wing parties tend to be more inclusive than right-wing ones. The results reported in this article confirm this pattern, although the effect seems to be attributable to the left-wing Popular Unity coalitions that were formed specifically for the 2015 elections (often with the participation of Podemos, Equo and Izquierda Unida). In these coalitions, 11% of candidates and 15% of elected councillors had immigrant origins, which indicates that migrants nominated on their lists were included in relatively safe positions, with a higher probability of being elected than in other parties.

Apart from this case, there are few party ideological differences. The PSOE seems to be slightly more inclusive than the PP, especially in terms of elected councillors. Among the nationalist parties, the Canarian Coalition stands out with 6.6% and 4.2% respectively of its candidates and councillors having an immigrant background (particularly Latin Americans and Moroccans, possibly as a reflection of the geographical and historical connections between the Canaries and these regions).
By specific groups, 59% of migrant candidates in PP’s lists and 53% of those fielded by  PSOE come from EU-14 countries. The PP also included more Romanians (15% of all its migrant candidates), whereas Latin Americans are nominated more frequently on the lists of left-wing parties (50% in the left-wing coalitions and 28% in the PSOE) and Cs (50%). ERC and the Canarian Coalition showed the highest percentages of candidates of Moroccan origin, followed by the nationwide left-wing parties. In turn, the presence of Moroccan candidates on the lists of the PP and Cs were residual or non-existent.

The results of this survey confirm that Spanish municipal councils rarely reflect the diversity of origins in their population, although some immigrant communities have greater electoral potential and easier access to public office than others.

FIELDHOUSE, E., and D. CUTTS (2008): "Mobilisation or marginalisation? Neighbourhood effects on Muslim electoral registration in Britain in 2001", Political Studies, 56 (2).

MÜGGE, L. (2016): "Intersectionality, recruitment and selection: ethnic minority candidates in Dutch parties", Parliamentary Affairs, 69(3). 

PÉREZ-NIEVAS, S., D. VINTILA, L. MORALES and M. PARADÉS (2014): La representación política de los inmigrantes en España: un análisis empírico, Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.

VINTILA, D., and L. MORALES (2018): "La representación política de las personas de origen inmigrante en España e Italia", Papers. Revista de Sociologia, 103(4).